Hoyer Rebukes GOP For 'Abandoning' Debt Limit Deal

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer on Tuesday rebuked House Republicans from essentially walking away from the debt limit deal by cutting beneat the agreed-upon spending levels in the accord last August.

"We understand it abandons the agreement that was reached among Republicans and Democrats in order to pass the Budget Control Act that was essential to keep our country from defaulting," Hoyer told reporters at his weekly press conference. "There is no doubt that everybody at the table thought there was a deal, an understanding, an agreement."

"Senator Reid's right," he added. "It's going to be hard to negotiate with people and try to come to an agreement in a democratic process if the other side simply says, well, yeah we agreed on that some months ago but we're abandoning it now."

Hoyer flatly rejected the notion expressed by Speaker John Boehner that the agreement was simply an upper limit on spending as opposed to an agreed-upon figure for federal outlays.

"What kind of deal is that?" he said. "That's like saying we'll sit down on a contract and say, okay, I'll pay $100 for whatever service or good you're going to give me. And then I come back and say, no I'm only going to pay you $92 because that was just a top limit of what I was going to pay you. Who believes that? Nobody."